The next morning we pulled into the picturesque port on St. Thomas, part of the US Virgin Islands. Even though the ship was protected on three sides by hills, it was still quite windy.

As we pulled into the dock, the ship's screws provided some much needed dredging.

Neither of us had been to this island and Dean had read that the town was worth seeing, so we were first in line to disembark. The terminal area by itself had some interesting attractions including this stone windmill pub.

Two sides of this helpful sign helped to guide us.  Our ship had docked at Crown Bay and we were headed to Charlotte Amalie.  Lots to see as we walked along...

While this is a US territory with its US post offices (the yellow building in the above photo) and other US government services, there is a movement to revive the St. Thomas culture.  The Guavaberry Christmas banner is presented by the Committee to Revive our Culture. Because we wanted to witness this culture and avoid the crowds, we  skipped the shopping areas of town and headed upward. In the end we were successful and found some pretty interesting areas.

We went up these white stairs next to the governor's building/mansion. We could tell this was the governor's place because the sign next to the prime parking place said "Reserved Parking for the Governor." Not sure who is supposed to stand in the little red guardhouse.    

The higher we climbed, the better the vistas. 

At the top of the hill is Blackbeard's Castle and an inn with a great view.

We wound our way back down some very narrow streets.  After we reached the bottom, we caught a taxi back to Crown Bay. We thought we'd drag ourselves back on to the ship and relax, but a pleasant surprise greeted us as we entered the terminal area.

The view of the cruise ships docked in the harbor at Charlotte Amalie from the base of the tower.

<< In front of the castle is a statue of three strong women--each is wielding a deadly weapon.